Internet project in Basra enters final stage

BASRA / IraqiNews.com: The internet project at the Basra University has entered its final stage, the media coordinator of the Basra reconstruction and services committee said on Wednesday. “Around 90 percent of the project was completed and it has entered the final stage and hopefully could be done in the coming two months,” Rashied al-Fahd told IraqiNews.com: “The project aims to provide the university with the internet service within projects of the Basra reconstruction and services committee, which is assigned to spend the $100 million allocated by the premier to the southern province,” he added. “The total cost of the project is 173 million dinars and is being implemented by a local company,” he said. Basra, 590 km (340 miles) south of the Iraqi capital Baghdad, has an estimated metropolitan population of 2,300,000 in 2008. Basra, a Shiite province with 20% of the population are Sunnis, is the cradle of the first civilization of Sumer. It has the seven main Iraqi ports. The first built in Islam 14 A.H. (After Hegira), the city played an important role in early Islamic history. The area surrounding Basra has substantial petroleum resources and many oil wells. The city’s oil refinery has a production capacity of about 140,000 barrels per day (bpd). The only Iraqi outlet to the sea, Basra is in a fertile agricultural region, with major products including rice, maize corn, barley, pearl millet, wheat and dates as well as livestock. A network of canals flowed through the city, giving it the nickname “The Venice of the Middle East” at least at high tide. The only Iraqi outlet to the sea, Basra has the commercial ports of Iraq. SH (S) 1